Relation between the magnetic-field–temperature critical point and the baryonic QCD critical point

Ascertain whether the deconfinement critical point in the temperature–magnetic field plane is related to the conjectured QCD critical point at nonzero baryon chemical potential, and determine whether these critical regions are connected by a critical line.

Background

At very strong magnetic fields, lattice studies indicate a first-order deconfinement transition and suggest a critical point in the temperature–magnetic field plane. Separately, a critical point is conjectured in the temperature–baryon chemical potential plane, but remains elusive due to the sign problem.

Understanding whether these two critical structures are related—or even continuously connected—would provide powerful constraints on the global QCD phase diagram and guide both lattice methodologies and heavy-ion phenomenology.